Basotho National Party

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Flag of the BNP

The Basotho National Party (BNP, formerly Basutoland National Party ) is a party in Lesotho . It was founded in April 1959 and was the government from 1965 to 1986.

history

The Basotho National Party was founded in April 1959 under the name Basutoland National Party as the third party in what was then Basutoland . The first chairman was Leabua Jonathan who later became Prime Minister . Unlike the dominant Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) , the BNP was initially anti-communist and was close to the barena , the Roman Catholic Church and the British colonial authorities in what was then Basutoland. For example, foreign Catholic clergy financed a newspaper that attacked the BCP. The BNP was less critical of the apartheid regime in neighboring South Africa than the BCP.

In the first parliamentary election in Basutoland in 1960 , the BNP won only a few seats, despite the support of the South African government, the BCP received the most votes. The BNP only regained importance when the future King Bereng Seeiso gave Jonathan a seat on the National Council . The BNP campaigned successfully for women's suffrage and was supported by conservative circles in South Africa and the Federal Republic of Germany . In the 1965 elections , the BNP was the strongest party ahead of the BCP, with 31 out of 60 seats. Sekhonyana 'Maseribane became the first prime minister because Jonathan had not won his constituency . It was only through a by-election , with the help of a donation of 100,000 sacks of grain from South Africa, that Jonathan got into parliament and became Prime Minister. After Basutoland became independent in 1966 under the name Lesotho, the BNP changed its name to the Basotho National Party. The Lesotho flag was in the colors of the BNP. Numerous South African officials were employed in the administration.

The 1970 elections were won by the BCP under Ntsu Mokhehle . Leabua Jonathan had the elections canceled. He declared a state of emergency , had several BCP leaders arrested and from then on ruled the country autocratically. King Moshoeshoe II did not want to accept this and had to spend several months in exile in the Netherlands . In the 1970s, the BNP increasingly turned away from South Africa, especially since South Africa apparently supported the then terrorist organization Lesotho Liberation Army of the BCP and carried out several attacks on refugees of the African National Congress in Lesotho. Jonathan and the newly founded BNP Youth League (" BNP Youth League ") increasingly turned to socialist countries like North Korea . Parliamentary elections were held in April 1985 in order to continue receiving development aid . However, they were boycotted by all opposition parties, so that the BNP received all 65 seats. On January 20, 1986, a South African backed military coup led by Justin Metsing Lekhanya against the BNP government took place. As a result, all political parties were banned. The flag was changed so that it no longer resembled the BNP. Jonathan died in 1987.

Only towards the end of the military government and before the upcoming parliamentary elections in 1993 were parties allowed again. BNP was chaired by Evaristus Retšelisitsoe Sekhonyana, while Justin Metsing Lekhanya, deputy chairman, had overthrown the BNP government in 1986. The BNP received 23 percent of the vote in the 1993 elections, but because of the majority voting right, it received no seats in the National Assembly . Sekhonyana was in 1994 following a coup by King Letsie III. Foreign Minister for a few weeks. In 1998, the BNP won a mandate with 24 percent of the vote. In the same year, Sekhonyana was blamed for unrest in Maseru , which could only be ended by the invasion of troops from South Africa and Botswana . Lekhanya was elected party chairman in 1999 and moved to the National Assembly with another 20 members after the next elections in 2002 . The share of the vote was 22 percent; the higher number of mandates resulted from a changed electoral law . In the 2007 elections , the BNP received three of the 120 seats, and in the 2012 elections five seats. Under its chairman Thesele 'Maseribane, she participated in a coalition government led by Tom Thabane of the All Basotho Convention , which failed in 2014 because the third coalition partner, the Lesotho Congress for Democracy , allied itself with the opposition Democratic Congress .

In the early elections in 2015 , the BNP received seven seats, including a direct mandate from 'Maseribane in the Mount Moorosi constituency . However, the BNP had to go into opposition. On May 13, 2015, 'Maseribane, like the other two opposition leaders, fled to South Africa for fear of persecution. The three opposition leaders returned from their exile on February 12, 2017. In the 2017 elections , the BNP received five seats; 'Maseribane lost his direct mandate. The BNP, however, belonged to the coalition government under Tom Thabane; two BNP ministers, including 'Maseribane, were represented in Thabane II 's cabinet .

In 2018 it became known that 'Maseribane had received money from the British investor Arron Banks prior to the 2014 coup attempt and that Arron Banks had obtained a license to mine a diamond shortly afterwards . Banks' Maseribanes had also financed the 2015 election campaign.

In May 2020, the BNP supported the overthrow of the Thabane government. In the new Majoro cabinet she is still represented with 'Maseribane as minister.

Program and structure

The BNP is headed by a board ( National Executive Committee ).

literature

  • Lawrence Frank: The Basutoland National Party: traditional authority and neo-colonialism in Lesotho. University of Denver, Denver 1971.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 127
  2. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 13.
  3. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 15.
  4. ↑ a b Lesotho Embassy in Washington / USA on the history of Lesotho (English), accessed on February 21, 2012
  5. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 17.
  6. ^ Website of the Embassy of Lesotho in Rome ( memento of March 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 19, 2012
  7. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 19.
  8. ^ Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 20.
  9. ↑ ABC / BNP 'alliance' under threat. sundayexpress.co.ls as of January 31, 2013
  10. ↑ Results at iec.org.ls ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English, PDF), accessed on March 5, 2015
  11. ^ Opposition leaders seek SA asylum. lestimes.com of July 2, 2015 (English), accessed July 2, 2015
  12. ↑ Lesotho teeters as former PM returns. timeslive.co.za on February 14, 2017, accessed February 14, 2017
  13. ^ Final elections tally announced. ( Memento of June 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Lesotho Times of June 6, 2017 (English)
  14. ↑ Kevin Rawlinson: Arron Banks denies payment to African minister was a bribe. The Guardian, July 25, 2018, accessed July 26, 2018